


How To Raise a Dragon

by Tren



Category: Original Work
Genre: Dragons, Fantasy, M/M, Parent-Child Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-13
Updated: 2020-12-13
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:54:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 12,648
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28039485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tren/pseuds/Tren
Summary: Raising a child who had just entered adolescence isn't easy, but it's even more difficult when the child in question is a dragon.
Relationships: Original Male Character/Original Male Character
Comments: 3
Kudos: 7
Collections: Heart Attack Exchange 2020





	1. Visiting the Town

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Requiem](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Requiem/gifts).



"I want to go to the town with you!" Casimir whined. "I don't want to stay here alone."

Casimir's dads exchanged worried glances. They knew this was coming. For the last few months their son had been expressing a growing interest in visiting a town. Until now at least one of them would stay with their son to protect him, but now that he had reached ten years of age, they had judged that he was strong enough to protect himself.

Unfortunately, this didn't mean that their son was happy with this arrangement.

"It will be just a few hours," Balzah promised, giving Casimir a placating smile.

"Yeah, a few hours of me _being alone_!" 

"Come on, you are a man! You can take a few hours of solitude!" Reidar pointed out, visibly fed up with the whole situation.

"I keep telling you that human concepts like this don't apply to me!" Casimir protested.

"If that's the case you should have more backbone than a human, not less!" Reidar snapped at him.

Balzah sighed. It was just his luck that both his husband and their child had to be hotheads.

"Both of you calm down. We aren't going to reach an understanding this way," he pointed out, raising his voice in a warning.

Balzah was met with two unimpressed stares, but he wouldn't budge. He was used to being a voice of reason in this family. 

"If you want an understanding then. Let. Me. Go," Casimir demanded.

"You know why you can't go," Balzah pointed out, looking at his child. His precious, but definitely scaly child. "If we took a dragon into a city someone could attack you."

"I can protect myself!" Casimir protested.

The worst part was that he probably could. Casimir was at this point stronger than both Balzah and Reidar, but that was even more of a reason to avoid conflict.

"Yeah, and that's why we are counting on you to protect yourself while we are busy buying important stuff," Reider said, still sounding annoyed.

Balzah could understand his impatience. It wasn't that they wanted to upset Casimir, but it's been far too long since they had some time for themselves. Their plans definitely involved booking an inn for an hour to have some fun in a safe distance from their child which at this point had far too keen senses. But they couldn't explain that to Casimir. Neither of them was ready to give their child _the talk_.

"If you attack people in the town they will consider us enemies and then," he paused to give his words more weight, "they won't sell us sweets."

"What? No!" Casimir protested, his tail hitting the ground to signal his disapproval. Balzah took note of patches of dirt that stuck to his spikes. He would have to clean them later.

"Hell no, they won't sell us any sweets," Reidar confirmed, realizing his husband's strategy was working.

"I heard they have some incredible sweet buns in this town," Balzah added. "If you promise to wait patiently for us we will bring you some."

Casimir looked conflicted. He circled in place, as he thought.

"At least three?" he asked, clearly haggling.

"At least three," Balzah confirmed.

Casimir finally sat down, as he made his decision, "I will wait for you, but you can't stay there for too long."

"We promise," Balzah said, happy that they reached an agreement.

Reidar smiled satisfied. "Let's get going, so we can take care of everything while it's still bright."

Balzah quickly hurried after him, while waving to Casimir.

"I promise we will be back soon!"

Hopefully, their kid would wait patiently as always.

*

"They are late!" Casimir complained.

The hours without his parents always stretched endlessly. It was boring to be alone. Casimir would sometimes hunt animals for dinner while he was alone, but he didn't feel like it today.

What he wanted to see was the town. He was never interested in those small human settlements, but this one was bigger and more colorful. The humans in it also seemed more lively and there were definitely new kinds of sweets he had yet to try.

That's right. There was no guarantee that his parents would choose the _right_ kind of sweets. Not like they would have bad intentions, but they had a human taste. There was no way they could truly comprehend the sublime palate of a dragon.

"That's right! I need to go there!" he said, in realization. However, he immediately stopped in place, remembering his parents' words. "Ugh, but they won't sell sweets to a dragon."

There was something clearly wrong with that. Dragons were the superior species, so obviously they should be allowed to buy anything they want. In fact, Casimir was pretty sure they should be given anything they want for free.

Still, he wasn't strong enough to fight the clearly flawed ways of human society. Not yet, anyway. He needed a different approach.

If only he could trick humans…

Wait, could he?

Casimir quickly moved towards the nearby stream and looked for a spot where the water was clear enough to reflect him. He took a deep breath and focused on what he was trying to accomplish.

*

"Man, this was great! We should go visit the next town too!" Reidar shouted. As always, once he was given the things he craved the most, in this case alcohol and some time alone with Balzah, his rough demeanor was replaced with a picture of a doting parent. He had bought no less than five different kinds of sweets for Casimir and was smiling so widely it was almost blinding.

"Yeah, it was nice," Balzah agreed, trying not to topple under the weight of the items he was carrying. It was moments like this that made him envious of the ease with which Reidar was able to carry all those heavy packs.

Not that it was strange, Reidar had to be strong as a warrior.

"Oy, are you there, kid? We bought you some sugary treats as promised," Reidar called. 

They were greeted with silence. Did Casimir go out to hunt? He sometimes did that when he was bored. Both men stopped in place to look around.

A moment later they heard a prideful chuckle. 

"He he he. This is the last time you have left me behind, foolish humans!" Casimir announced. Balzah and Reidar realized that his voice was coming from behind a large rock and proceeded to pretend they hadn't noticed that. Balzah was surprised that their child was in such high spirits. Usually he was very cranky after staying alone for several hours.

"Wow, did you hunt something good? You sound damn happy," Reidar called out, visibly amused by their child's shenanigans.

There was a cough. It seemed that Casimir didn't expect that response.

"No, I didn't go hunting. Instead, I awakened my powers to perform a grand feat!"

Not for the first time Balzah wondered why Casimir's word register was so weird. Dragons seemed to inherit linguistic knowledge while they were still in the egg, since Casimir could talk almost immediately after hatching. Still, neither him nor Reidar used such a formal language, so it was strange how their son clung to it.

"Did you learn some fire breathing tricks?" Reidar asked, visibly amused.

"No!" Casimir shouted, sounding annoyed. "I found a way to go with you to the town!"

After those words, someone moved from behind the huge rock. Both parents blinked as they saw a human looking boy. He was of average build, and had a simple shirt and trousers on him, but no boots. What stood out was his hair that was reddish-pink, the exact color of Casimir's scales, and the yellowish eyes similar to cat's.

However, there was also a bigger, more glaring problem.

"Are you in awe of my shapeshifting skills?!" Casimir asked, clearly proud of himself.

Reidar burst out laughing in response.

"Humans don't have tails, you dumbass," he shouted while laughing. Casimir quickly looked behind himself to realize that there was indeed a long red tail which was thinner than normally, but still undoubtedly belonged to a dragon.

Casimir reddened upon the realization. He closed his eyes, concentrating.

A second later the tail seemed to pull back, disappearing from their sight. Casimir released the breath he was holding.

And then he slowly toppled backwards.

"Waaaah?" he shouted, more from surprise than any actual harm. "How can humans maintain balance without a tail?!"

He tried to get up, but lost his balance the second he stood up. Balzah and Reidar watched as he clumsily tumbled onto the grass. They were barely holding themselves from laughing.

"Our child is too damn cute," Reidar whispered, grinning wildly.

Balzah could only nod in agreement as they watched Casimir roll on the ground in frustration, after failing to stand up yet again.

*

Several days and a few lessons later, Casimir finally managed to learn how to stand in place and walk while in human form. Reidar seemed to enjoy teaching him, since usually the role of the teacher fell to Balzah who was more patient and knowledgeable. 

Reidar was a specialist at hand-to-hand combat, tracking, and extracting materials from monsters, but not much more, which was why he cherished every moment when he could actually teach their son.

"How could humans evolve so weirdly?" Casimir questioned, as Reidar proceeded to demonstrate more complex movements. While Casimir could walk, any attempts at running resulted in him tangling his legs and falling down. Other sudden movements or changes in direction also resulted in a loss of balance.

Balzah watched them from a distance, while he stirred the soup.

"That's because humans evolved to be flexible!" Reidar said proudly. 

"I'm also flexible when I'm a dragon!" Casimir protested. "I don't see how the human body can be more flexible. It's definitely less sturdy! How can you live with those accursed bruises?!"

Reidar crossed his arms. Balzah knew without a doubt that he was considering how to divert the conversation so that he wouldn't have to admit that he had no idea why humans got bruises. Balzah loved that distant slightly panicked look in his black eyes. It amusingly contrasted with the overconfident smirk he always wore.

"Human body becomes stronger with each bruise," Reidar announced.

Casimir looked at him suspiciously.

"Now you are making fun of me. There's no way it can be true," Casimir shouted.

"It's partially true," Balzah shouted from the sidelines, deciding to give his husband some help. "Humans are very adaptable so some of them become stronger after healing from damage, but not all of them."

"I should have known. Reidar is a muscle-head, so obviously he would get stronger from letting himself get hit," Casimir said.

"You want to go at it, you scaly-nuisance?!" Reidar shouted, immediately losing his temper.

Balzah sighed, as Casimir returned to his dragon form so he and Reidar would wrestle. Balzah didn't even try to stop them. He just continued stirring the soup, knowing that they would tire themselves off soon. They weren't really fighting as much as competing to see who is stronger.

Balzah tried the soup and decided to add a bit more basil, while his husband and son rolled on the ground.

*

"I told you, Casimir. We can't take you to the town until you can hide your tail for several hours," Balzah explained.

Their son was now able to move much better than he used to while in human form, but he was unable to hide his tail for more than three hours. There was also an issue of his eyes, which didn't look even remotely human, but Balzah and Reidar decided to just lie that their child got cursed to have reptilian eyes. Still, it would be hard to maintain the lie if Casimir had both eyes and a tail of a dragon.

"I will keep it hidden!" Casimir shouted.

"Ey, don't go promising more than you can deliver. A true adventurer always knows his limits," Reidar pointed out.

"I'm a dragon, not an adventurer!" Casimir protested.

"Exactly, Casimir," Balzac said, crouching down to be on a similar eye level to his son. "Right now you can't pass for a human. That's why we can't take you. You need to learn how to properly pretend to be a human first. Once you can do that we will take you to town. So promise you will wait patiently for us to return."

Casimir lowered his eyes, clearly disappointed.

"Fine, I will wait for you," he said.

Balzah smiled, patting Casimir on the head. He was careful not to accidentally touch the spikes that extended from Casimir's back that grew along his spine.

"We promise to bring you many sweets in return, okay," Balzah said with a smile.

Casimir nodded in response.

*

Humans were dumb.

Casimir knew for a fact that he would be able to fool them. He was easily able to fool his parents many times. Like right now, for example. They believed he was waiting for them in the forest, while he had in fact snuck into the town. They suspected nothing!

His disguise was perfect. If anyone looked at him more closely, it was because he was looking like a very pretty human. His parents assured him of that, so it was definitely true.

Casimir looked around the town, fascinated by everything that was happening. There were so many humans going about their business. He knew he should watch out for his parents, but he could probably put his guard down for now. For some reason whenever his parents went to a town they would always take a bath. Casimir never understood why, when Balzah could easily create enough water for them to bathe anywhere they wanted. His parents just insisted that hot water was better and that Balzah couldn't create it, since it required using fire and water magic at once.

Casimir always felt like it was some sort of excuse, but he couldn't find a flaw in their logic.

Anyway, his parents were probably taking their bath right now, so he was free to explore the crowded streets. 

Finally, as he took a turn, he found a wide street that was filled with stalls. It had to be the market his parents told him so much about. He watched in fascination the animated vendors that advertised different kinds of produce. Casimir walked from stall to stall, gasping as he saw foods and items he had never seen before. 

Finally, he stopped before one of them, as he saw a man with a huge cauldron. The man was much bigger than either of his parents. He was wearing a huge apron that had many splotches on it over his clothes. He also had a very impressive mustache and was constantly stirring whatever was inside the cauldron. Casimir saw the huge man hand out a bowl with the substance that seemed to be in the cauldron to a woman. The sweet smell made Casimir come closer. The substance smelled of milk, but there was more to it. With his potent sense of smell, Casimir could also distinguish the smell of egg, but that was it.

"What's this?" he asked, as he approached the man, who returned to stirring the mysterious substance.

"Vanilla custard," the man replied without even looking at Casimir. _Custard_ was an unfamiliar term, but Casimir remembered _vanilla_. One of the snacks he had received from his parents a long time ago contained vanilla. Now that he realized it, the smell became more familiar.

Casimir made his mind.

"I want it," he said.

The man just glared at him.

"Do you have any money, kid?" he asked.

Casimir blinked, as he encountered another unfamiliar term. He remembered his parents mentioning _money_ , mostly in the context of now having nearly enough of it. For some reason his parents refused to show him what that money thing looked like, saying it might awaken something bad in Casimir.

How ridiculous.

This wasn't helpful. Having no other choice, Casimir decided to use his dragon knowledge. There was a lot of information he had innately possessed—the problem was that it was very confusing. First of all, it was hard to understand. Casimir knew the words, but often struggled to make sense of explanations that were carved inside his brain. It was as if he had borrowed someone else's knowledge wholesale, but without really understanding it. He was slowly trying to comprehend it, but it felt like it would be centuries before he had time to truly absorb all of it.

Still, in moments like this, he was usually able to find necessary information if he focused.

_Money - human term for items that are generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts in certain human areas. Mostly include coins, gems and other valuable items. See also: barter, currency._

For once the explanation didn't seem very complex. Casimir shook his head.

"I see. I see. So money is used as a means of exchange for goods and services," he muttered to himself. So that's what his parents meant when they said they were going to _buy things_. They meant a form of acquisition based on exchange of goods for this so-called _money_.

"So what is it, kid? If you don't have money, then scram," the man said. Casimir realized he had been standing silently for some time.

This was bad. He didn't have money.

"Can I trade something else other than money?" he asked quickly, trying to find some way out of his predicament. He really wanted that custard thingie.

"I don't barter. Besides, I can see you have nothing on you to trade. Tell your lies to someone else."

Casimir swallowed. This was bad. It seemed he would need his parents' help to obtain custard, since they were the ones who had money. However, if he came to them they would punish him for disobeying them.

With a heavy heart, Casimir turned around, abandoning the custard stall. He walked off, feeling a heavy sense of defeat, but he wouldn't give up yet.

He just needed to get the money, right?

But first he would need someone who would show him how that money thing looks like.

*  
By observing from a distance Casimir managed to ascertain that money took the form of coins. He didn't know why, but seeing them made him feel weirdly nostalgic. As if he had once possessed a whole lot of coins, even though he was pretty sure he was seeing them for the first time.

Casimir didn't really understand the feeling, but somehow he was sure that it was outright _wrong_ that he didn't possess any coins. It was his natural right! His birthright!

...He would have to check what _birthright_ means later. It was a bit frustrating when words snuck on him like that. Luckily, his parents were dumb enough not to notice that Casimir kept accidentally using words he didn't understand. They had to be very smart words. Probably even too smart for his parents to understand.

Still, now that he made this important discovery, Casimir felt it was even more important to obtain money.

Unfortunately, he had no idea how to obtain it. His parents would hunt for monsters and gather treasures from dungeons, but neither method would let Casimir obtain money quickly. However, neither his human, nor dragon knowledge was helpful. His dragon knowledge just kept throwing difficult words like _pillage_ or _tribute_ at him and Casimir had a strong feeling they wouldn't be helpful even if he checked their meaning.

No, it was moments like this when he should remember his parent's sage words. Or just Balzah's words, since he was the brains of this family unit.

"That's right! It's moments like this when I should rely on others!" Casimir realized. Sure, relying on others usually meant relying on his parents, but surely he could temporarily substitute them with some other human. There were a lot of humans. Surely, one of them would work.

Casimir looked around, before he zeroed on a small boy that was trying to make himself look small, as he hid behind a wooden box. He silently walked towards him, making sure to stay out of sight, before ambushing him in one fluid motion.

"You! Tell me how to get money!" Casimir said to the terrified boy.

*

"I really don't think you should do it," the boy, Nate, muttered.

"Nonsense," Casimir declared as he looked at his opponents. Three much bigger boys were sitting opposite of them. "Besides I promised to reward you for lending me a coin."

"I didn't really lend it," the boy tried to protest, but went silent as soon as Casimir looked at him.

Casimir once more looked at his opponents once he realized Nate wasn't going to continue. Well, if he didn't openly voice his opinion that meant it wasn't important enough to worry about it.

"So are you betting, or not?" one of the boys asked, impatiently. 

"I am. Just let me confirm, the one who is the closest to guessing the number the dice show wins?"

"Exactly!" the boy said with a satisfied smirk. "We are both betting one copper, the winner takes it all."

Casimir nodded, as he watched the boy throw three dice into a wooden mug and then shake it.

"Three!" the boy shouted.

"Ten!" Casimir said.

The dice rolled onto a small mat before them. Three, three, two.

"Eight! The new guy is the winner!" One of the boys announced, handing Casimir both copper coins. Casimir took them, but then realized he had overlooked something important.

"Hey, Nate. How many coins do you need to buy custard?" Casimir asked seriously. He got so caught up into the process of procuring the money that he almost forgot about his goal.

"Custard? You would need at least five coppers," Nate replied, immediately.

"I see, so three more," Casimir muttered to himself before remembering the promise he made to Nate. He would need to get at least two extra coins. "Then I bet another copper coin!"

"Shouldn't you bet both coins you have?" Nate asked. "You would earn more."

"Idiot, that's not how statistics works!" 

It was only when he realized that everyone was staring at him, that Casimir noticed that another word snuck on him.

"Sta… what?" Nate tried to repeat.

Casimir desperately tried to check what the word meant, but instead just got buried in more weird terms like _median_ , _outlier_ and _mean average_.

This didn't even make sense. Why would someone average be mean? Reidar always told him that mean people were people who were lacking something. An average person should have no reason to be mean.

Still, Casimir could tell that betting all his coins wasn't a good idea. Even if he didn't really understand the principles behind it.

"It's just something my parents taught me!" Casimir bluffed. "So are you betting, or not?"

The boy who seemed to be the leader of the group nodded, pushing forward another copper coin. The betting continued. As time passed, Casimir ended up gathering five copper coins, though not without some losses on the way.

"I bet two coins," he said. 

"But don't you have enough coins?" Nate asked.

"Fool, I still need to return the coin to you," Casimir reminded him. "Just watch me win!"

Nate seemed to be taken aback by the fact that someone who took money from him was actually planning on giving it back. He nodded, watching intently the match.

"Eleven!"

"Five!" Casimir betted.

The dice rolled. Casimir held his breath.

One, one, two. Four.

It was Casimir's win.

"We did it!" Nate shouted, hugging Casimir in excitement.

"Yeah," he muttered, slightly taken aback by that.

The leader of the boys group was much less impressed.

"So what?! Next round I will demolish you!" he shouted, visibly firing himself up.

"But there won't be a next round," Casimir pointed out as he gathered the money he won.

All the boys looked at him in surprise.

"What?!"

"I need to go back soon, so I can't stay here for too long." He turned towards Nate, extending his hand towards him. "Here you go Nate, this is the copper coin you lent me and one extra."

Nate took them with a look of disbelief.

"Wait, you can't stop now?!" the leader shouted, raising from the ground.

Casimir blinked at him.

"Why?" 

That question seemed to throw the boy back for a loop.

"What do you mean why?!"

"I don't need more money right now and I'm in a hurry," Casimir explained. He pushed Nate so he would step back. He was a timid and squishy human, there was no point in keeping him in front.

"We haven't agreed to end the match!" the leader of the boys shouted. The other two boys nodded from behind him. Casimir could tell they were getting heated up.

"You have not informed me of any such rules. As such I refuse to abide by them," Casimir replied, without even thinking about his words. He wasn't sure why, but talking about promises and contracts always activated his dragon knowledge.

The leader of the boys clenched his fist.

"You are not getting away with our money! Get him!" he shouted. His two lackeys immediately jumped at Casimir. They were much taller than him, but lanky.

If Casimir was in his dragon form he could have won against them without any worry, but it was more tricky in the human form. He still didn't have a perfect control over it and it was also more difficult to control his strength, which meant that Casimir was more likely to hurt himself than someone else if he tried to punch them.

Not that it was going to stop him.

He sidestepped the first attack, using as little movement as possible. Doing wide dodges was still too difficult, but Reidar helped him figure out how to dodge while moving as little as possible. However, it made it impossible to dodge the punch of the second lackey, so instead he stopped it with his own hand.

The boy seemed surprised to see the momentum of his attack die completely, but he didn't get to be confused for long, because Casimir retaliated by punching him in the face.

"How dare you do that to Jim?!" the other boy shouted, but he also went out easily with one well-aimed elbow strike. That left only the leader of the group, who stepped forward, ready to fight.

Unlike his lackeys, the leader did have some well-defined muscles and gave off the aura of someone who was in many fights. Casimir wasn't going to underestimate him.

The leader charged at him and Casimir was barely able to dodge the punch. His attacks were much faster and more precise than those of his followers. Casimir found himself overwhelmed. There just wasn't an opening he could use for an attack. It took his all, just to dodge the punches and kicks coming his way.

It was a problem.

"You were acting tough, but now all you can do is run, you runt!" the leader shouted.

Casimir could feel himself heat up. How could a mere human call him a runt! Casimir was bigger than him! Just not in his human form.

His pride was on the line, he had to finish this quickly. As Casimir dodged another punch an idea struck him. So when he saw the next attack, rather than try to dodge, he went for a counter.

It hurt terribly. Human body was far too susceptible to pain. Casimir winced, but not as much as the boy who got the taste of his punch. The leader made a short cry and then just fell backwards. Casimir remained on guard a few seconds longer, but then relaxed. It didn't seem like his opponent would be standing up.

"You! You did it!" Nate shouted, as he came closer. Then he paused. "But your eye…"

Casimir could feel a pulsing pain in his cheek. The punch partially reached his eye, so it wasn't surprising that it also hurt. Casimir didn't worry too much. As a dragon he healed from wounds pretty quickly, and once he turned into his dragon form his bruise would become invisible under the scales.

But the pain was really annoying.

"Let's get out of here," he muttered, taking Nate by hand.

*

Finally, he was about to achieve his goal. 

It took Casimir way more effort than he expected. No wonder his parents always worried so much about procuring money.

Still, he had reached the necessary amount. After he had given two coppers to Nate and now he had just enough to buy custard. However, as he approached the man selling the custard he realized he had a problem.

"So are you buying or not? You've been standing there for a while now?" the man asked, visibly unamused. However, Casimir was too busy going through an internal crisis.

He had enough money to buy custard, however if he used it he would end up with _no money_. He didn't understand why, but the very idea of losing the possession of money was disgusting to him. It was _his_ money now. There was no way he would give it to anybody else. How could humans just exchange their money carefreely? It didn't make sense. There had to be something wrong with them…

But on the other hand, the smell of custard kept tempting Casimir. He found himself stuck between the two choices.

"I… I…" he started, but he couldn't get his voice out. It was humiliating how he couldn't even make such a simple choice. Why couldn't he have both money and custard? The world was too unfair to force such difficult choices on him.

Maybe he should just try to take the custard by force? Surely, the man wouldn't expect to be overpowered. Yes, why didn't he think of this sooner…

Suddenly, a hand descended onto his shoulder, grounding Casimir in place.

"If you are going to buy it, just do it. You are wasting this man's time, you know?" a familiar voice said. Casimir would recognize Reidar's gruff voice anyway. He slowly turned his head to see Balzah with his _we both know you did something wrong_ smile.

Suddenly, the problem of losing money seemed like a very small one compared to the punishment he would receive from his parents.

"I… I will have custard please," he said, his voice stuttering.

He really hoped the custard would be worth the suffering he was about to experience.

*

It wasn't. Not that it wasn't good, but definitely not worth the punishment.

"No sweets for the next three trips we make to a town!" Reidar announced once they reached a secluded spot where they planned to camp.

"No!" Casimir gasped.

"With possible extensions if you end up sneaking into the city again," Balzah added coldly. He was grinding some herbs in a bowl. They smelled as bitterly as Balzah's voice sounded. "Not only did you sneak into the town, you also got into a fight!"

"I was the one who got attacked!" Casimir protested.

"Oh, and what did I teach you?" Reidar asked, visibly unamused.

"That knowing when to avoid fights is as important as knowing how to win them for an adventurer," Casimir recited, as he clenched his fists. He was still in his human form. He wasn't sure if he should change back to his human form, but the nervousness made his tail grow back and some of the scales appeared on his arms.

"We are angry, because not only did you break the promise you made to us, but you also ignored other warnings we gave to you," Balzah said, as he gestured to Casimir to come to him. Casimir really didn't want to, because his parents were clearly upset with him, but also because the herbs absolutely smelled. Even in his human form Casimir's sense of smell was stronger than that of a human. Still, he forced himself to move closer.

"If you want to disobey us at least be smart about it," Reidar said with a huff.

"By which Reidar means, _don't disobey us_ ," Balzah said coldly, shooting Reidar an annoyed look. Despite his anger, Balzah was gentle as he took the bitter mixture of herbs and applied it to Casimir's swollen eye. He used a bandage to keep the mixture in place, wrapping it around Casimir's head. "We don't forbid you from doing things, because we hate you, but because we are worried about you. We don't want our beloved child to get hurt."

Somehow those words stung more than the wound or Reidar's scolding.

"I'm stronger than you," Casimir said defiantly. He hated feeling weak.

"But you are more immature than us, so it's easier for you to get hurt," Balzah explained, as he finished fastening the bandages.

Casimir was silent at that.

"Now that you fucked up, accept your punishment if you want to prove how strong you are. Only weak people escape from the consequences of their actions," Reidar pointed out.

"I'm not a human," Casimir reminded him weakly.

"All the more reason to prove you are above all those weak humans, who can't even make up for their mistakes."

"A good child doesn't make their parents worry needlessly," Balzah pointed out, as he finished checking if the dressing was holding. "Tell me if you want to change back into a dragon, I will take off the bandages. But you should stay like that at least for an hour or two so the herbs can help heal the wound. I don't think your scales will absorb the mixture as well as human skin does.

Casimir only nodded. Somehow he couldn't find it in himself to be definiant right now.

*

"You know Reidar, this incident with Casimir got me thinking. I think we should settle down and make Casimir go to school once he can hold his transformation for longer," Balzah said, as the two of them walked around the town, doing the shopping. It's been two weeks since that incident.

Reidar coughed on the piece of dried meat he had been swallowing.

"Are you serious?" he hissed, once he stopped coughing. "He's a freakin dragon."

"Yes, one that can transform into a human. Just think for a moment what will happen if we don't teach him how to interact with humans other than us and then he goes into a town pretending to be human," Balzah pointed out.

Reidar fell quiet as he considered the scenario.

"It will be a bloody mess," he muttered.

"Exactly. That's why, it would be good to try and make Casimir mingle with children his age, so he learns how to interact with other people. It's something that we just can't teach him on our own."

Reidar nodded. Balzah was always good at figuring out the long-term plans, but this was going to be a complicated issue.

"What about our job? That's the main reason why we are travelling," he asked.

"I was thinking of settling down in Crastevia. We will have more competition to worry about, but we will be able to keep our jobs," Balzah explained.

Reidar whistled.

"The Town of Adventurers, huh. That's bold of you," Reidar said with a smirk. Balzah blushed despite himself. He knew that it was a very strong compliment. "Sure, with your magic and my brawn we should be able to make a living there. And I will admit, it would be nice to settle down so we can sleep in beds more often than not."

Balzah let out a sigh.

"I'm glad you like that idea."

Reidar smirked, "Anything for our favourite scally menace."


	2. Making Friends

Crastevia wasn't called a Town of Adventurers for nothing. Most of the people living there were either adventurers or operated other businesses based on providing for adventurers. The reason for that was simple, the town was situated on the frontier of the dangerous and unexplored land that lay behind the Gloomy Mountains. The mountains themselves were full of caves that were equally filled with monsters and treasures to be looted. Adventuring in this region was extremely dangerous, resulting in deaths of many people, but they were always replaced by new adventurers who flocked to this town.

"Are we really going to stop travelling? I like travelling," Casimir complained.

"Travelling is only fun if you have somewhere to return to. We've already talked about this," Balzah said gently.

"I don't need to go to that school thing! I'm smart!" Casimir protested. Balzah sighed. Even though they had explained their reasoning to Casimir several times, he was still unhappy with their decision.

"Smart people don't need to tell others they are smart," Reidar commented.

"How would you know that? You are dumb!" Casimir protested.

"Oh, then have you seen Balzah ever say that he's smart?" Reidar goaded him.

Casimir opened his mouth, then closed it. He averted his eyes, clearly annoyed that Reidar beat him in a discussion.

"We are just thinking of what's best for you," Balzah chimed in. "Me and Reidar never got a proper education because we grew up in the streets. I had to put a lot of effort on my own into learning how to read and count. I just want you to have better education than the two of us."

Casimir gritted his teeth, but said nothing. He was taller, now that he was twelve years old, but still shorter than most boys his age. Balzah often wondered if it meant that his dragon form was also smaller compared to other dragons his age, which was a scary thought considering he was at this point as tall as an adult human while sitting.

Even after making the decision to move to Crastevia, it took them almost two years to reach it. Half of it was the matter of distance, but the other half was that they really needed to have Casimir learn to control his transformation as perfectly as possible so he wouldn't give himself away. It was only when he learned to control it enough that he stopped sprouting tail when he got surprised that they decided to move into the town. Unfortunately, there was nothing to be done about Casimir's eyes, which still looked like those of a reptile even when he was transformed.

However, Balzah and Reidar had prepared themselves. They would make sure to keep Casimir safe even in those new circumstances.

"I'm sure you will like this town," Balzah said, smiling to Casimir as they approached the tall and guarded walls of Crastevia.

*

"So you want to enroll your child into our school?" The person who interviewed them was an old man with thin glasses. It seemed like he was in charge of handling the paperwork.

"Yes, I heard you are geared towards teaching children of adventurers," Balzah confirmed. The three of them sat on chairs next to each other. 

The old man nodded.

"Indeed, if the parents end up getting killed we promise to continue taking care and educating the children left in our care. They of course will need to pay back the debt once they reach their adulthood, but at least they will be taken care of."

"I guess that's fair," Reidar said.

"Yes, we agree to those terms," Balzah confirmed.

"Wait, what do you mean you will end up getting killed?!" Casimir protested.

"It's just insurance," Balzah said, trying to calm him down.

"If you are going to just get yourself killed, then I need to go with you to make sure you survive," Casimir protested.

Balzah sighed. It was a sweet sentiment, but this really wasn't the time or place for it. Luckily, the old man seemed completely unperturbed by this development.

"Child, tell me, do your parents love you a lot?" he asked. Casimir blinked at him, visibly surprised.

"Of course they love me!" he confirmed.

"Then I think it will be more dangerous if you go with them. They will be more worried by your safety than their own and may get hurt as a result," the old man explained. Casimir gave him a terrified look.

"Is that true?!" he asked, looking at his parents.

"Yes, it's one of the reasons why we wanted you to go to school," Balzah confirmed. "I know you are used to going with us, but we always chose less dangerous places to explore to make sure you were safe. However, we can't guarantee your safety while exploring this region."

"But… but you are weaker than me," Casimir protested weakly.

Reidar just smiled at him.

"I know you are strong, but we've been adventuring for a long time. We have enough experience to make up for what we lack in strength."

"Uhhh, if that's the case… I guess… I will stay in this… school…" Casimir finally admitted after a moment of silence.

The old man nodded.

"Could I also ask about your child's eyes? Is it something from their ancestry?"

"Ah, no, I don't think so. We have adopted him, so we can't be sure about his ancestry, but as we mentioned we would take him with us while we were exploring and unfortunately when he was little he activated a reptilian curse someone left on a treasure. A healer we found managed to stop the spread of the curse, but not before it got his eyes. He also sometimes grows scales when he gets agitated, but they disappear quickly. The curse hadn't been progressing for the past several years, luckily," Balzah lied, presenting the fabricated story they had prepared beforehand.

He was so caught up in making sure he didn't slip that he failed to notice Casimir going unnaturally quiet.

*

Casimir didn't like the whole school thing. He was apparently going to live in this dormitory building now. His parents rented a separate place that they were going to use. They promised to spend time with Casimir whenever they returned from exploring the nearby caves and forest, but it still meant he would spend more time away from them than with them.

Casimir forced himself to bear with this situation. His parents insisted this was important, so he went along with their wishes, but he hated the changes.

"Are you ready?" A tall woman, who had introduced himself as Teacher Anya leaned down to look at him. She said she would introduce him to the rest of the class.

"Sure," Casimir replied flatly.

She opened the door and they both entered a small classroom that clearly had seen better days. There were only a dozen other children, they all seemed to be of similar age. Casimir glared at them. 

"Everyone, we have a new student joining us. Please welcome, Casimir," she said.

All the children looked back at him.

"What a weird name," a chubby girl said.

"What's with his eyes?" a boy sitting at the front asked.

"Why is he glaring?"

"Please calm down," the teacher said. "Casimir had been cursed when he was young which is why his eyes look like they do. The curse only affects him, so don't be afraid to interact with him. Now please, sit somewhere, Casimir. I'm going to start the lesson."

Casimir pointedly chose a seat that wasn't close to anyone, as he sat down.

*

The classes weren't difficult. Casimir spent more time comparing the things he was learning with the information he inherited as a dragon. Admittedly, it wasn't a bad way to review the information he had yet to properly comprehend. Maybe his parents were onto something when they insisted school was helpful. But only maybe.

Still, Casimir didn't like the idea of having to interact with human kids. He did it during that time when he sneaked into the town, but ever since then he realized there was no reason to lower himself to their level. They were usually dumb and unrefined like those three boys that attacked him that day.

Unfortunately, the time of meal break came and Casimir was forced to go together with other kids to the cafeteria. It was a huge room where children would receive food. From what Casimir understood his parents were paying so he would receive food and lodging from this so called school. It was hard for him to judge the quality of the room he was going to share with other kids, but he quickly found he had strong opinions on the food.

"Balzah's food is much better," he muttered as he tried the stew. Still, he ate it spurred by hunger, but there was a miserable feeling in his chest. "This sucks."

"Are you just going to complain about everything?!" someone hissed at him.

Casimir raised his head to see a girl with blond hair that was glaring at him.

"Nobody is forcing you to listen," Casimir pointed out. "And who are you anyway? Do you always pick fights with people without even introducing yourself?"

The girl took a step back, clearly not expecting the rebuttal. However, she quickly gathered herself.

"I'm Reeza! I'm going to become a paladin and become famous by slaying a dragon!"

That finally caught Casimir's attention.

"Wait, why would you slay a dragon?! They are cool!" Casimir protested.

"Because they are dangerous!" Reeza countered.

"Most dragons just keep to themselves. They are hardly the most dangerous creatures out there," Casimir pointed out. Sure, there were definitely evil dragons who would attack humans for no reason, but it was no different from how there were evil humans. "Why don't you hunt kobolds or goblins? They cause more victims."

Reeza glared at him.

"No, it has to be a dragon! And dragons aren't cool! They are just mindless beasts who think of nothing, but gold!" 

"That's not true!" Casimir protested standing up. "Dragons are intelligent and wise! Sure, they like gold, but so do humans!"

"Wow, you really like dragons," one boy muttered.

"Of course! My parents always told me that my eyes meant I would become as great as a dragon!" Casimir said proudly. 

Casimir saw other children looking at each other with understanding. It seemed that they had comprehended why his eyes were a sign of greatness.

"Wait, so you are just deluding yourself so you don't feel bad about being cursed," Reeza said, sounding unamused.

"I'm not deluding myself! Dragons are great! They are big and strong and they can fly!" Casimir said. Not that he could fly. Flying required using magic and Casimir didn't have enough of it to be able to lift himself for more than several seconds.

But someday he would definitely fly.

"This is stupid! I'm out of here!" Reeza decided, as she walked away. Casimir sat down, feeling annoyed.

Human kids really were dumb and ignorant.

*

Casimir struggled to fall asleep that night. The rest of the day went by in a flash. After classes finished, Casimir walked around the school and dormitory, learning its layout. They were two separate buildings placed right next to each other and an empty field. 

There were several other kids Casimir was sharing his room with, but none of them bothered him as he crawled into his bed. The bed felt weird. Casimir slept on one a few times in inns, because his parents wanted him to know what it feels like, but he still wasn't used to it. He spent so many nights sleeping on the ground that anything else felt abnormal.

The sounds were also distracting. Usually he would list in on his parents to calm himself. Reidar's snoring or Balzah muttering magical chants to himself to make sure he remembered them perfectly felt like such a fixture that it was hard for Casimir to fall asleep. Instead there were noises of other boys talking and playing around. After some time a teacher came reminding them that it was after curfew and that they should stop being so loud. Luckily, after that they fell silent, but even then Casimir found himself unable to sleep.

The room, the sounds, the smells, the people—everything was painfully foreign.

*

The next day, Casimir spent his time wondering what his parents were doing. They said they would check on him after the classes on his first day, but they didn't come. Casimir remembered the conversation about them dying and quickly shook his head to escape the memory.

No, they were just supposed to go do some paperwork. There was no way they would die from that.

Right? 

This time Casimir spent his time after classes overlooking the entrance to the school. Waiting by the entrance would make it seem like he was lonely, but taking a high vantage point was different. He was just being vigilant. 

Still, the second he saw his parents walking through the entrance he rushed down and hugged them as soon as he could.

"He really missed us," Reidar said, as he affectionately rubbed Casimir's hair.

"Of course he did," Balzah said, as he crouched to pull Casimir into a deep embrace. "I'm sorry we left you alone yesterday. It turned out the person managing the paperwork in this town's adventurer guild was someone Reidar had punched in the past. We spent the whole day filling forms. Or rather I did, because Reidar can't read or write."

Balzah angled his head to shoot an annoyed look at his husband.

"Oh, come on. He totally deserved that punch for paying us half the bounty back then on some bullshit excuse," Reidar protested.

"Reidar," Balzah hissed in a warning. Casimir always wondered why Balzah was so particular about Reidar not using profanities in his presence. It's not like Casimir had much reason to use human insults. He had access to dragon insults that were perfected over millennials. "We could have solved it in a way where he wouldn't even know it was us."

"Your revenge plan using magic was too damn complex. It's better to resolve those things straightforwardly," Reidar insisted.

"You made our son sad with your _resolving things straightforwardly method_ ," Balzah hissed.

Reidar avoided his gaze, clearly having no comeback. However, he quickly gathered himself, pulling Casimir out of Balzah's embrace and instead letting him sit on his shoulder. Casimir had to lean a bit not to hit the ceiling with his head.

"What's past is past! Rather than standing here and exchanging excuses we should just go out and have twice the fun to make up for yesterday!" Reidar announced.

Balzah sighed, but didn't protest.

"We already told the teacher we are taking you out so there's no problem," he said to Casimir.

"Let's go! Yesterday we learnt about a place that is said to have some incredible pancakes!"

Casimir nodded. Pancakes sounded good.

*

" _...and killing five ogres,_  
With his mighty axe,  
A golden coin for one!"

Balzah always looked like he was suffering when it happened, but Casimir liked it when Reidar sang. It usually only happened when he had a bit too much to drink, though. Like right now.

"You are going in the wrong direction, Reidar! School is to your left!" Balzah shouted, taking his husband by the hand. "We need to return him before the curfew."

"Awww, do we really have to?" Reidar asked.

"Yes, we promised to do so," Balzah said in a tone of voice that demanded obedience. Reidar made a sad expression but followed Balzah.

Casimir felt his heart sink the closer they came to school and dormitory. He didn't want to part with his parents. He missed them so much after just one day. It was almost embarrassing how badly he dealt with loneliness. Weren't dragons supposed to be loners? Annoyingly, this one time his dragon knowledge seemed to provide him with no helpful response.

"I will go ahead and report to the teacher, you two wait for me," Balzah said, as he walked into the building. Casimir hoped he wouldn't be back quickly. 

Reidar was humming the song he had been singing earlier, pleasantly filling the silence. However, as soon as Balzah walked away far enough to not be able to hear him, he looked at Casimir.

"If you don't want to go back to the dormitory tonight just tell me," he said, as if reading Casimir's mind. Casimir blinked, caught completely off-guard. Reidar continued, "Balzah is trying to act strict, but you know him. If we both plead with him he will definitely give in. He's only acting that way, because he feels like it's the best for you."

Casimir felt relief grow within him. He had a choice. If he wanted he could stay with his parents tonight. He opened his mouth to reply, but then stopped.

_"We have adopted him, so we can't be sure about his ancestry, but…"_

Casimir had no idea why he remembered those words right here and now, but suddenly he no longer craved his parents company. In fact he wanted to be alone as soon as possible.

"No… it's alright…" he muttered. He could see Reidar staring at him questioningly, but he remained quiet until the teacher led him back into the cold corridor of the dormitory. Casimir felt empty as he said half-hearted goodbyes to his parents.

*

That night Casimir couldn't help wondering why he felt so bothered by those words.

It was obvious he was adopted. It was biologically impossible for two adult human males to birth a pure-blooded dragon.

So just why did that simple statement of a fact bother him so much?

Casimir kept turning in his bed, unable to make sense of his feelings. When the sleep finally crept on him it was an uneasy and shallow one.

*

Casimir felt miserable the next day. The lack of sleep and his unresolved doubts made him scowl all throughout the day. Other kids avoided him entirely, sensing his annoyance.

However, one person wasn't smart enough to do so.

"I decided to prove to you that dragons aren't as cool as you think!" Reeza said without any prompting during the lunch break. "Because I'm going to defeat one someday!"

Casimir squinted at her.

"Are you bored?" he asked.

"What? No!"

"Then leave me alone. You can't change my mind," Casimir muttered.

However, Reeza was stubborn. She remained standing next to his table, as she put her hands on her hips.

"Just you wait! I will make you acknowledge me!" she announced. Her black ponytail shook, as if to underline her determination.

However, Casimir just turned his head to look at her emptily.

"I won't," he said, feeling fed up with her behaviour. He could feel his dragon side mercilessly dissect her behaviour. It was hard for him to analyse his own feelings, but seeing through others was easy. "You aren't really planning to kill a dragon. You just want everyone to pay attention to you by announcing that you are going to do it. And I don't care about your words. They are as empty as your head. If you are really serious about slaying anything then go and train with some weapons or magic rather than wasting my time."

He could see Reeza open her mouth in indignation, but no words came out. She closed it, gritting her teeth and after a second turned around and walked away.

It was only due to his keen dragon senses that Casimir noticed she was crying.

*

His parents visited him that afternoon. However, they didn't come to take Casimir into the town.

"We are very sorry, Casimir!" Balzah said. "But we really need to take this job. We hoped to be able to spend more time with you, but the cost of living in the town was higher than expected, so…"

"Just be strong, kid. We will return as soon as possible," Reidar said confidently, rubbing Casimir's head.

Casimir couldn't help the nebulous feeling in his chest.

His parents were leaving him again and for even longer today. What would happen in the upcoming days? Months? Years?

How long until they stopped coming back at all? Until they left him alone.

However, Casimir was unable to voice those doubts.

He muttered a quick goodbye, hoping his fears would never come true.

*

When he came to the class the next day Reeza wasn't there. Her two friends claimed she was feeling unwell and one of the teachers seemed to have confirmed that.

It was only during the lunch break that the staff discovered that Reeza had disappeared. Or as they soon learned from her friends, who cracked under the pressure, she had escaped.

"She… she said she needed to go prove herself!" the timid boy who usually followed her admitted.

"She begged us for help. We couldn't say no to her. It was so important to her!" Reeza's other friend, a girl with twintails added.

Casimir who overheard the conversation thanks to his superior dragon hearing wondered if it was his fault.

_It's totally your fault_ , his dragon side immediately supplied.

Well, shit.

Logically, Casimir knew he should leave it to the teachers. It was moments like this when adults insisted on taking care of the problem by themselves. However, Casimir couldn't help feeling responsible for causing this entire situation.

Sure, Reeza was very annoying, but Casimir shouldn't have shown so much impatience toward a mere human child. It was immature of him. He took out the frustration he felt about not seeing his parents on her, instead of truly engaging her. If he had been more patient he would surely be able to convince her of the greatness of dragons without having to talk down to her.

But the question was, what he should do now. From what Reeza's friends said, she was probably planning to leave the town. Casimir had promised his parents not to leave Crastevia. He knew it was for the sake of his safety, however right now someone else's life was in danger.

What would his parents do in this situation? The answer immediately became clear.

"Only weak people escape from the consequences of their actions!" Casimir said strongly, before sighing. "I'm not a human, but I guess it applies this time."

He used the commotion caused by Reeza's disappearance to sneak into one of the empty classrooms. Casimir looked down to make sure nobody was around before making his wings grow out of his back. Luckily, at this point he could partially undo his transformation like that.

Casimir couldn't fly, but he had enough magical powers to be able to glide out of the second storey of the building. He hid his wings immediately upon landing and quickly ran off.

He would track down Reeza and make sure she returned safely.

*

Reeza was deeply regretting her decisions, while she hid in a small cave. She shook as the growls of the demonic wolf which had been pursuing her grew louder. 

She shouldn't have come here. She was so desperate to prove herself, but after defeating a few weaker monsters she caught the attention of this wolf. She barely managed to escape by climbing a nearby cliff and hiding in a small cave that formed next to a ledge. The demonic wolf was twice as big as a normal one, so it could only fit its head inside the hole, but seeing the rows of its sharp teeth gleaming at her, made Reeza even more afraid.

She couldn't ignore the possibility of the wolf managing to bulldoze its way through the stone wall to get to her.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she muttered, praying for someone to find her. The teachers had to send out someone to find her, right? They wouldn't leave her alone...

Then, as if answering her pleading, the wolf seemed to direct its attention elsewhere. A moment later a loud yowl seemed to swallow all other sounds. Reeza listened to the sound of struggle happening outside. There were more yowls that seemed to come from the wolf and then she heard a loud thud as if someone fell off the ledge.

The ensuing silence was so heavy, Reeza could hear ringing in her ears.

Footsteps shattered the silence. Reeza waited with a bated breath. Was it one of the teachers? Or was it something or someone way worse than the wolf?

"Oy, are you there?" a familiar voice asked.

Reeza blinked, unable to understand what was happening. A second later an equally familiar face peeked through the hole.

"Casimir? What are you doing here?" she asked, momentarily forgetting her fear.

"I'm taking you back," he said, as he smiled. "Everyone is looking for you."

*

Casimir didn't expect having to fight with an actual giant wolf, but it could have been worse. Fortunately a few fireballs were enough to convince the wolf that the prey hiding inside the cave was not worth its attention. Unfortunately, the wolf decided to attack Casimir instead, which forced him to summon his wings to be able to fly into the air and avoid the attack, since there was no space on the ledge for him to dodge. Luckily, sending a fireball straight into the wolf's maw had resulted in it slipping and falling off the ledge. The wolf growled, but didn't seem to be in the shape to jump on the ledge and walked away after a moment.

Casimir sighed, transforming himself back into a completely human form. He felt tired. He had run here as fast as he could following the tracks Reeza left behind. He was glad Reidar taught him so much about tracking. 

Casimir made sure his tail was hidden before approaching the hole.

"Oy, are you there?" he asked. He knew she was, because he could hear her breathing, but he was mindful of the fact that a human probably wouldn't be able to.

"Casimir? What are you doing here?"

Why was she so surprised? Did he leave such a terrible impression on her?

That wouldn't do. He should fix it now, or else his parents will nag at him about being bad at acting human later.

"I'm taking you back. Everyone is looking for you," he said while doing his best Balzah impression.

It must have worked, because a moment later Reeza crawled out of the wall.

"Is it really safe?" she asked looking around. "How did you scare the wolf off."

"I can use magic. It ran off after a few fireballs," Casimir explained.

"Really? Are you okay? I heard that using magic takes a lot out of you if you aren't an adult," Reeza asked, sounding worried.

Casimir laughed.

"Don't worry! I'm totally fine!" he announced.

A second later his knees gave in and he fell on his back. There was no strength in his limbs.

Maybe he had been pushing himself, after all.

*

Reeza pulled him inside the cave in case more monsters came. While the entrance was small, the cave itself was spacious enough for several people to fit if they huddled tightly. As such, it gave Reeza and Casimir enough elbow room.

"Are you okay?" she asked, looking at him worriedly. "There are scales on your arm."

Casimir was breathing heavily, trying to keep his transformation going. He was so worried about Reeza, he hadn't realized he had used most of his magic.

"It happens sometimes if I use too much magic," he rasped. "Don't worry. They will disappear once I rest."

Reeza still looked worried, but nodded. Casimir was surprised. He expected a lot more panicking. He sighed.

"I'm sorry," he said.

She blinked at him.

"What?"

"You ran away, because of the stuff I said yesterday. So it's partially my fault. I shouldn't have been so mean. I was just angry, because I was missing my parents," he admitted. Some part of him felt better now that he had said it.

Reeza lowered her head.

"No, you were right. I was just talking big without doing anything. I got overconfident killing some small monsters near the town wall and walked further in without thinking," she said. She sighed. Casimir thought it was all, but a second later she continued. "The truth is my parents were a pair of known bandits. They left me in the orphanage when I was a baby." 

She paused, as she noticed Casimir's confused stare.

"Oh, right you wouldn't know. The orphanage later got restructured and became the school, so they would be able to earn money to take care of us. I know that after I grow up I will probably be forced to stay in this city forever, slowly paying off my debt killing nearby monsters. But if I killed a dragon… I could not only prove that I was better than my bandit parents, I could also pay my whole debt at once. And then… then I could travel beyond this town. I could truly see what the world is like. I… I overheard teachers saying that you have been travelling with your parents until now and I… it made me jealous. I was so angry that you got to see what the world is like and... I... I should be the one to say sorry."

Casimir blinked at her slowly.

"Wait, so you don't hate dragons?" he asked, focusing on the most important part.

"What? No? I just heard you can get piles of gold for killing one if they put a request in the adventurers guild," Reeza explained.

"So you won't just kill any random dragon?"

"I can't even kill a wolf, much less a dragon," she pointed out bitterly.

Casimir's breaths deepened. He wouldn't be able to hold on for too long.

"Uhhh, so can you keep a secret? Because I don't think I can keep myself human anymore," he muttered.

"Wait, what do you mean by—?"

Reeza didn't get to finish the sentence because a second later the cave became much more cramped than it was a second before as a dragon materialized taking most of the space.

She shouted.

"Uhhh, don't be like that… I warned you," Casimir said weakly.

Reeza fell quiet, as she finally realized that the dragon was in fact Casimir.

"You are a dragon?!" she said in disbelief.

"Yeah."

Reeza leaned closer to look at his tail that was coiled next to her.

"Why would a dragon go to school?" she asked.

"My parents insisted that I should," he admitted. He felt too tired to say anything other than the truth. "They said I needed to learn how human society works and a bunch of other stuff."

"Wait, does that mean your parents are also dragons?" she asked. Casimir didn't like where the conversation was going, but he couldn't stop himself from replaying.

"No, they are normal humans."

"So they adopted a dragon? How did that happen?" she asked.

Casimir lowered his ears.

"I don't know," he admitted.

"Huh?"

"When I hatched from my egg they were there and it just… felt normal. I knew they were humans not dragons, but I never thought too deeply about it. It was only recently that it occured to me that I don't know how it happened. That I'm adopted," he said, his voice more subdued.

"Wait, are you bothered by it?" she asked, sensing his discomfort.

"...I guess," he said. It was the first time he had such an honest conversation with someone who wasn't his parents.

Somehow, it felt refreshing.

"Then why don't you ask them?" she suggested.

Casimir actually raised his head to look at her.

"Just ask them?" he repeated in disbelief.

She shrugged.

"Yeah, no parents who send their kids to school can possibly hate them. This is like the nicest place to leave your kids in this city. The unlucky kids are left with adventurers who can't fight monsters anymore and who usually keep the kids locked in one room the whole day, while giving them some scraps. I was very lucky the orphanage took me. The old man who runs it seems to really care, unlike those guys."

Casimir blinked. It didn't really occur to him that the school was such a great place, but now that Reeza said it, it felt kind of obvious.

"I… I guess I will ask them," he said, feeling a bit bolder. A part of him was still anxious, but he couldn't help feeling that some of his fears might have been unfounded.

"We should rest for now," Reeza said. She seemed to have gotten more used to the presence of a dragon next to her, as she leaned on him. "Walking at night is too dangerous, anyway."

Casimir nodded. It wasn't long before he drifted into a deep sleep.

*

"...are you!"

"Come out, you scaly menace!"

"Don't call him that! He might not come out, you idiot!"

Casimir blinked, as he slowly woke up. Someone shook his arm.

"Wake up! Someone is coming!" Reeza whispered.

Casimir felt himself focus, as his mind finally recognized who the voices belonged to.

"Balzah! Reidar!" Casimir shouted and then immediately hit his head on the ceiling, as he tried to stand up.

"I think I heard him!" Reidar's voice reached him.

"Are you sure?" Balzah asked, sounding sceptical.

"I would bet my beard on it," Reidar said confidently.

"You can be sure I will hold you to that if you aren't right," Balzah assured him. 

Casimir managed to concentrate despite the pain and turn himself into a human. He was still low on magic, but he had enough to maintain his transformation. He quickly crawled through the hole and looked around trying to find his parents.

"He's there!"

Casimir turned just in time to see Reidar point at him. He was standing some distance away from the cliff. Balzah waved at Casimir, once he noticed him.

Casimir couldn't hold himself back. The sheer relief at seeing his parents made him tear up. Casimir undid his transformation without thinking and jumped off the cliff. He might have been low on magic, but he had just enough to glide down right where his parents were.

"Balzah! Reidar! I missed you!" he cried, as his parents hugged him.

"We missed you too, you damn overgrown lizard!" Reidar shouted, sounding equally emotional.

"Casimir," Balzah said warmly, but then he seemed to remember himself. "What about the girl? Have you seen the girl, Reeza?"

However, before Casimir could reply they heard a shout.

"Wait! Don't leave me behind, you idiot!" Reeza shouted from the ledge. "I can't get down on my own!"

*

Only once they secured both of the children, Balzah allowed himself to relax a little. Reidar was keeping the watch to make sure no monster or adventurer came nearby. Casimir would need some more time to recover enough magic to transform and so, they decided to rest for several hours before returning to Crastevia in the evening.

"...so after we realized those guys got themselves poisoned after walking through those damn ferns, the three people leading our group decided to stop the mission and make sure those guys can return to the town before the poison really messes them up. Without them we wouldn't have enough people, so the plan was to get them better and then try again in two days once they all got pumped with antidotes," Reidar recounted. "So we return just in time to run into that teacher, Anya, who tells us that two kids are missing and one of them is our son. We asked her for details and immediately left while the lead was still fresh. We had bad luck and ran into a few wolves on our way, so we lost some time dispatching them. We had to wait through the night, and then resumed our search at dawn. And that's when we ran into you two."

"I'm sorry," the girl, Reeza, said.

"Ummm, I'm sorry, too," Casimir added with less sincerity.

"I will forgive you, but only because you apparently saved her," Reidar decided.

"But make sure to next time keep your identity a secret," Balzah reminded Casimir. "It's good that Reeza promised to not tell anyone, but you shouldn't rely on people's goodwill too much."

His son nodded, this time having the decency to actually look slightly ashamed.

"Actually, I wanted to ask," Casimir started, but then paused as if he had trouble actually articulating the question. Finally, he took a deep breath and said, "How did you adopt me?"

"We found the egg," Reidar said, as if it was a satisfactory explanation. However, that wasn't enough for Casimir.

"Tell me the truth! Did you kill my actual parent? I won't get angry! I just want answers!" Casimir demanded.

Balzah and Reidar were silent as they looked at each other.

"So, uh, Casimir, do you know what _scrapping_ is?" Balzah asked.

Casimir shook his head, but Reeza recognized the word.

"Isn't that when weak adventurers follow a stronger group picking up whatever loot they have missed?" she asked.

"Yes. It's not a very respectable thing to do, but at that time we were very short on money and we accidentally stumbled on a group that took up a quest to kill a dragon," Balzah explained.

"We haven't actually seen the dragon," Reidar added. "We only entered its nest after the group that defeated it carried away most of the treasure and its remnants. I think we found some black scales lying around, but that's about it."

"After some searching, I realized there was a magically hidden secret stash that the group before us had missed. So I used my magic to access it and…"

"It turned out there was an egg!" Reidar said, interrupting his husband.

Reeza and Casimir blinked.

"Just the egg?" Casimir asked.

Balzah nodded. Reidar chuckled.

"To make a long story short we got into an argument about what we should do with the egg and then Balzah insisted that we should keep it warm, because if the dragon inside dies we won't get as much money. Which, now that I think about it, he might have done to stop me from selling the egg."

"Took you long enough to figure that out," Balzah said. Reidar ignored him.

"And somehow before we knew it the egg hatched and neither of us had the heart to sell an actual child to someone."

"That's it?" Casimir asked when he realized that Reidar wasn't about to continue.

"Well yeah, you know what happened after you hatched," Reidar pointed out.

"I'm sorry that Reidar originally planned to sell you, but that's about all we've done. Are you angry?"

Casimir was strangely quiet. Balzah was about to ask him again, but before he could, Casimir shouted.

"Arghhhh, that wasn't how it was supposed to go!" he whined.

"What?"

"You were supposed to beg me so I forgive you for killing my parent and then I would tell you that you now had to make up for it by doting on me! I had it all planned out!"

"Casimir, we are nowhere near strong enough to beat a dragon. There was no way we could have killed your parent," Reidar pointed out.

"I thought you used some trickery," Casimir admitted.

"There's no way some cheap tricks could work against an adult dragon," Balzah explained.

Casimir splayed himself on the ground.

"This is dumb," he said.

"You are dumb, thinking we can actually take on a dragon," Reidar retorted.

"Also don't think we will go easy on you. You are almost a teenager now," Balzah added. "You need to try to be more responsible."

*

Reeza had been quiet as she observed them. She sighed, when she saw the three of them end up in a hug after some bickering. 

"I don't think it's possible for them to dote on you more than they already do, Casimir," she muttered to herself, feeling slightly jealous. However, this time she was smiling. "I guess, dragons really aren't dangerous if they're dumb enough not to notice something so obvious."


End file.
